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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 March 2010

Ruby Cohn
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis
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Summary

The history of drama abounds in change, exchange, and paradox, but my present concern is a segment of contemporary theatre history. Shaw's quip still has point – that Britain and America are two countries separated by a common culture – but several dramatists of these countries also share a common theatre culture. Unlike interpersonal characters, dramatists speak each to each through their dramas, and, unlike the mermaids of Eliot's Prufrock, I think that they also speak to me, and, I hope, to you. This book records my impression of a transatlantic dramatists' exchange through the languages of the stage, mainly but not entirely expressed in words heard. Shifting my metaphor from the ear to the eye, I scrutinize plays of several American and English dramatists who offer mutual illumination through a double focus. I should say “double focuses,” since I discern different points of tangency within each Anglo–American pair.

The half-dozen playwright couples worried their way into my mind, in empirical response to theatre productions. Empiricism used to have right of domain in Anglophone culture, but Latinate theory is colonizing its ground. Ignoring theory, I grapple with living and lively dramatists who are skilled in the languages of the stage. Uneasy with superlatives, I do not claim that these “twins” are the most durable dramatists of our time – well, not all of them. Nor did I seek out those who are the most representative of their countries. All artists are nurtured by a specific time and place, and although I cite printed texts, I try to situate each play in the specific time and place of first performance.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1995

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  • Introduction
  • Ruby Cohn, University of California, Davis
  • Book: Anglo-American Interplay in Recent Drama
  • Online publication: 19 March 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511663635.002
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  • Introduction
  • Ruby Cohn, University of California, Davis
  • Book: Anglo-American Interplay in Recent Drama
  • Online publication: 19 March 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511663635.002
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Ruby Cohn, University of California, Davis
  • Book: Anglo-American Interplay in Recent Drama
  • Online publication: 19 March 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511663635.002
Available formats
×